Swagger Like Us Ann Friedman Analysis

To be assertive or to be different
In her article "swagger like us" Ann Friedman discusses how women can achieve professional success in a working world that is still dominated by men. In her article she discusses two ways in which women use to progress in the workplace. One of the ways woman can progress in the workplace is to "act like a man". By doing this females would be overselling themselves in job interviews, ask for more raises, demand a better title and also being more assertive when expressing their own opinion. Ann Freidman connects this idea to a blog post called "A rant about women" by Clay Shirky. In his blog post he explains that he believes women need to be more aggressive to overcome the differences between men and women …show more content…
One of the mentioned works is a 2006 book titled "the female brain" by LouAnn Brizendine and in her book she describes women as a "lean, mean communicating machine". This signifies that instead of amplifying their aggression to mimic men, women should use the skills they have that are different than men, to improve the workplace. (There are a number or traits women poses that men lack in, one of them being communication.) Another author named Christina Hoff Summers is mentioned by her writings that "a practical, responsible femininity could be a force for good in the world beyond the family, through charitable works and more enlightened politics" This further represents the argument that women should not act more like men in the workplace. The change that women bring into the workplace is a much needed influence. Freidman also refers to a magazine source called "the economist" in which a writing reported on a new breed of "feminist management theorists". These management theorists agree that the characteristics of women's kind and gentle leadership should be praised. Freidman herself believes that neither of these two options is …show more content…
In the Article it is stated that "studies show employees- both male and female are wary for working for high-achieving women", and I agree with this study. In my own experience with teachers, it is easy to tell the aggressive, assertive type of "high achieving" female teacher from the more feminine teacher. The assertive teacher will, more often than not, receive a fraction of the respect the more feminine teachers obtain. Students tend to exhibit more respect to a feminine teacher they view more of as a parent figure, than one that they view as a boss figure. Additionally, the conventional images of women are shaped by the society we live in. Similarly, there are cultural and structural reasons why men are usually more assertive, self-promotional and successful. For decades men have held positions where they are often the head of the household. This means bringing in a large majority of the income in many families and making large purchases that the family needs were all up to the man. Women were the silent backbone of the American household where they had the job of maintaining the house, cleaning, cooking taking care of kids etc. It is because of this position as being the "silent backbone" of the household, that women are positively viewed when fulfilling their position in the workplace in a feminine manner; than that of one mimicking a mans